1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electric sentry system for a docked boat and, more particularly, to a boat and lift control and security system that has a wireless interface for two-way communications with mobile wireless devices. The inventive system is configured not only to receive commands sent from a mobile wireless device but also to independently monitor conditions involving the boat, the lift, or the premises surrounding the boat slip, as well as monitor online sources of weather and/or climatic data, and then in consequence propagate messages to the mobile device of the relevant user/boat owner with the results of such monitoring activities.
2. Prior Art
Pleasure boats are luxury ticket items. It is hard for the budget-minded to cost justify a pleasure boat. Still, boat ownership is popular. People are willing to endure a certain amount of financial stress for the luxury of owning a pleasure boat.
Nevertheless, a pleasure boat is a piece of property which is typically left unattended for long periods of time, often in environments where it is vulnerable to misfortune. This problem has always been a bit worrying for the owners of pleasure boats.
There is no uniform profile of the owner of a pleasure boat who rents or owns a slip or a dock for the storage of his or her boat. But many such boat owners are highly ‘absentee.’ That is, they live a substantially long drive away from their boat slip. They own and use their boat for lifestyle, and not work. In consequence, they have to leave their boat unattended in the boat slip—elevated on the boat lift or not—for substantial periods of time.
A typical boat owner of this type might only get to spend a fraction of a season's time in actual, in-person contact with his or her boat. The thought of what misfortunes could befall the boat while unattended is indeed, as said before, worrying.
What is needed is a sentry system for a docked boat and/or boat lift which can perform control and/or security functions for the long-absent boat owner, as well as hold two-way communications with a mobile wireless device.